


Glass Jaw

by dashinginconverse (Dance_Elle_Dance)



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Camaraderie, Eventual Romance, F/M, Injury Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:22:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26016454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dance_Elle_Dance/pseuds/dashinginconverse
Summary: An injured Natalya receives a strange visit from the bare-knuckle brawler himself.(Originally posted on 2/20/12.)
Relationships: Wade Barrett/Natalya Neidhart
Kudos: 5





	Glass Jaw

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of my earlier WWE stories, written waaaay back in 2012. I hope you guys enjoy. I just really enjoy these two together. Thanks for reading!

Natalya inhaled deeply through her teeth as the doctor poked and prodded at a particularly painful spot on her back.

"You're lucky," he said. "It's not broken. Just a good bone bruise."

"…a… _good_ bone bruise?" she hissed. "There is nothing good about this, _sir_."

The doctor chuckled and moved to the side. Natalya was lying face down, her arms pillowed in front of her face. Still in her ring gear, she felt strangely exposed in the clean, sterile surroundings of the room in which the WWE staff doctor had called his own for the days they were in St. Louis.

"It's very good that she didn't break your back," he said as he jotted some things down on his chart. "I wouldn't recommend painkillers, but I do think you should ice this as frequently as possible. On for two hours and then off. You might be able to compete, but there is going to be a nasty bruise there for a while."

Natalya had the presence of mind to say a few choice curse words underneath her breath, all of which surrounded the name _Aksana._ In their most recent match, there were a few botched moves. The Divas matches were so short nowadays that someone really had to screw up to injure someone - like the time Alicia Fox scissor-kicked Beth's face and the Glamazon had a black eye for days - but it had never happened to Natalya before.

Well, that is, until now.

She had no particular hatred toward Aksana herself - just toward the _pain_ brought on by whatever move she had performed on her. It was almost like her vertebrae were verbally protesting each and every breath she took.

"Just get plenty of bed rest. I'd advise against lying on your back, though."

"Like I could even manage it…" she muttered, rolling her eyes.

The doctor was obviously good-natured, so he just smiled. She supposed he had to be of a decent temperament to deal with all the literal divas - both male and female - that he saw on a nightly basis.

"Get some rest, Natalya. Lord knows you deserve it."

Half an hour later, she found herself standing outside her hotel door, card key poised to swipe, when she realized she was miserably hungry. Her stomach roared and growled and she actually contemplated punching it to shut it up. It was late, though, and she wondered if room service actually served this late.

_Oh, well,_ she thought, opening her door. _No reason not to try._

She winced as she stepped in through the threshold, hoping the she didn't wake her roommate…oh, well, her roommate wasn't even in here to begin with. Natalya's eyes scanned the room, seeing hide nor hair of Beth Phoenix.

Rolling her eyes, she made her way to the bed and sat down gingerly, and even that caused a spike of pain to shoot into her back. She grit her teeth and found the remote to the television. Turning it on to some random late night talk show, she paused for a moment to collect herself before inching herself over to the phone, intent on calling room service.

Turns out they did, in fact, serve room service at all hours of the night. She found herself in an oddly happy mood as they wheeled in her cart of food - a large cheeseburger and fries, along with a piece of pecan pie and a bottled water.

"Natalya!" an oddly accented voice cried out. The dark head of Aksana peered in through the door and she teetered into the room precariously on her heels.

Natalya had the urge to both smile and roll her eyes - which she did not resist. "Yes?"

"I'm so sorry! I apologize! I do, I _do!_ " And Aksana threw her arms around Natalya's neck, barely missing the large patch of her back where she just felt a knot or bruise or _something_ forming.

"It's okay…" she muttered, spitting out locks of Aksana's hair. "Don't worry about it."

Aksana apologized more, changed the channel on Natalya's television, stole a few fries before apologizing again and leaving the room. Natalya watched her go with a stunned expression on her face. Hurricane Aksana was almost as bewildering as a normal Aksana - if Aksana was ever normal to begin with…

Natalya turned the television back to where it was before her fellow Diva interfered and moved to lie on her stomach. The plate of food was in front of her and she ate in a strange manner, unable to even sit up without feeling an excruciating amount of pain. It was then she remembered that she was _supposed_ to be icing her back.

Groaning, Natalya rose from her position - with much effort - and moved to the small refrigerator in the room. She took a zip-lock bag and put as much ice in it as she could before wrapping it in one of the plush, white towels from the bathroom. She was almost to her bed when she heard two quiet raps on the door.

Groaning even louder in exasperation, she gripped her makeshift icepack in one hand and opened the door with her other, not even bothering to check who it was by way of the peephole.

Seeing the person who stood on the other side, she wished she did.

None other than Wade Barrett met her shocked gaze. His head was cocked to the side, and a wry smirk crossed his features. "Hello, Natalya."

She couldn't help the shiver that went down her spine as he said her name, his accent caressing every syllable. "To what do I owe this visit?" she asked stubbornly, hiding the icepack behind her injured back, brushing the coolness over the wounded area just slightly enough that it relieved the throbbing pain.

"Can I come in?"

"You're going to come in even if I say no, right?"

"Pretty much."

"Then come in, by all means." Sarcasm coated her words as she moved to the side and motioned inside with her free arm.

Wade waltzed on by her, scanning the surroundings with amused eyes before turning back to her, "You're still in your ring gear."

Natalya looked down at herself, "Yeah…I guess I am."

"Need help getting out of it?" he smirked.

She wrinkled her nose, "Stop being gross."

"You know I'm nothing but a perfect gentleman," Wade replied, his smirk only growing wider. Natalya felt the urge to punch him. Had she not been in such pain, she would have.

"Perfect _ass_ ," she spat in return.

"Thank you."

"Not in _that_ way."

Wade shrugged his shoulders and moved to sit on the bed. Natalya had just positioned herself like the doctor had told her to, lying on her stomach, and trying to place the icepack on her back in just the right way. She could feel Wade's eyes on her, something that made her skin crawl in the most strangely pleasant way.

"Having difficulty?"

"Shut up." She craned her neck to look at him. He was sitting by her, had grabbed the remote and was flipping through channels. "What do you want anyway?"

"Just a friendly visit." He said, landing the television of BBC America. Natalya rolled her eyes at the clichéd-ness of it all. "Heard what happened. Thought I'd drop by."

"And do what, exactly?"

He shrugged again in response, "Just offer some company."

The ice pack slipped off her back, falling on the bed beside her. She groaned and reached to grasp the pack in her numbed fingers. Natalya maneuvered herself somehow - her flexibility was greatly stunted by this stupid, stupid injury - and placed the pack onto her back yet again.

Only to have it slip and fall.

_Again._

Natalya felt a scream building in her throat from the sheer frustration of it all. She reached back yet again to try and adjust the damn thing when her fingers brushed against Wade's.

_Wade's?_

It took her a few moments to realize what he was doing exactly. She felt the ice pack move from its fallen position at her side to slide gently up her ribcage and nestle on her back. A gentle pressure was being applied, and that was so heavenly it almost made Natalya moan. She pressed her face into the sheets and let out a sigh.

Wade's resulting chuckle was something that she did not take pleasure in, however. Okay, maybe just a bit, because it was soothing to the ears rather than something that pissed her off to no end. Ugh, he _sucked._

"Next time I have an injury, I'm calling you," she said in a throwaway manner.

He was chuckling again, and he said, "I'll be here."

Natalya smirked to herself.

Maybe being injured had some perks, after all.


End file.
